Mystery & Thriller – Page 68 – Trigger Warning Database

The Boy in the Headlights by Samuel Bjørk

The Boy in the Headlights by Samuel Bjørk

An old man is driving home when his headlights catch an animal on the empty road up ahead. He stamps hard on the brakes. But it is not an animal at all. It is a young boy, frightened and alone, with a set of deer antlers strapped firmly to his head.

Fourteen years later, a body is found in a mountain lake. Within weeks, three people have died. Each time, the killer has left a clue, inviting Special Investigations Detectives Munch and Krüger to play a deadly game – a game they cannot possibly win… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Drug abuse
Murder
Stalking

The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle

The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle

Iris and Will’s marriage is as close to perfect as it can be: a large house in a nice Atlanta neighbourhood, rewarding careers and the excitement of trying for their first baby. But on the morning Will leaves for a business trip to Orlando, Iris’s happy world comes to an abrupt halt. Another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board, and according to the airline, Will was one of the passengers on this plane.

Grief-stricken and confused, Iris is convinced it all must be a huge misunderstanding…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a husband in a plane crash

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back at the relationship he’s never forgotten, a hidden affair with a gorgeous boy named Thomas during their last year of high school. Without ever acknowledging they know each other in the halls, they steal time to meet in secret, carrying on a passionate, world-altering affair.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Homomisia
Sexism
Sexual harassment
Divorce
Coming out themes
Anxiety attack
Suicide & attempted suicide
Miscarriage
AIDS
Car accident

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman and illustrated by Sarah Watts

Twelve-year-old Emily is on the move again. Her family is relocating to San Francisco, home of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger, a game where books are hidden all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles. But Emily soon learns that Griswold has been attacked and is in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch. Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold and leads to a valuable prize… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Gun violence
Stalking

The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry

The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry

Best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent’s nightmare when a tragic accident befalls their teenage boys, leaving one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatized to speak.

Reeling from the worst night of their lives, the three mothers plunge into a desperate investigation of the bizarre incident. How could something so horrible happen in their wealthy Southern California suburb?… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Domestic violence
Child abuse
Murder
Gun violence

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

Christopher and Hannah are a happily married surgeon and nurse with picture-perfect lives. All that’s missing is a child. When Janie, an abandoned six-year-old, turns up at their hospital, Christopher forms an instant connection with her, and he convinces Hannah they should take her home as their own.

But Janie is no ordinary child, and her damaged psyche proves to be more than her new parents were expecting. Janie is fiercely devoted to Christopher, but she acts out in increasingly disturbing ways… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse
Forced institutionalisation
Animal death & cruelty

Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now.

Meet Noah—an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren’t any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He’s sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation centre… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Paedophilia (theme)

Phantom Limb by Lucinda Berry

Phantom Limb by Lucinda Berry

Emily and Elizabeth spend their childhood locked in a bedroom and terrorized by a mother who drinks too much and disappears for days. The identical twins are rescued by a family determined to be their saviours. But there’s some horrors love can’t erase…

Elizabeth wakes in a hospital, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak. The last thing she remembers is finding Emily’s body in their bathroom. Days before, she was falling in love and starting college… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Suicide
Self-harm

The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett

The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett

The morning after a dinner party at Windsor Castle, eighty-nine-year-old Queen Elizabeth is shocked to discover that one of her guests has been found murdered in his room, with a rope around his neck. When the police begin to suspect her loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they’re looking in the wrong place. For the Queen has been living an extraordinary double life since her coronation. Away from the public eye, she has a brilliant knack for solving crimes. With her household’s happiness on the line, her secret must not get out. Can the Queen and her trusted secretary Rozie catch the killer, without getting caught themselves?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Suicide mentioned
Drugging
Murder

Dogs by MA Bennett

Dogs by M.A. Bennett

After the dramatic events of the last few weeks, Greer Macdonald is trying to concentrate on her A levels. Stuck for a play to direct for her drama exam, she gets help from an unexpected quarter . . .

A priceless lost play, buried by time, is pushed under her door. It is Ben Jonson’s The Isle of Dogs, a play considered so dangerous in Elizabethan times that every copy was burned . . . except one. As the students begin to rehearse it, events become increasingly dark and strange, and they lead Greer back to where she never thought she would return – Longcross Hall.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder